Well, here's chapter 10. Things are beginning to come to a boil here and only two chapters left if you're wondering! Hope you're enjoying this and thanks to those who've shared their thoughts on the story so far.

The ADP unmarked screeched to a halt in front of the dilapidated looking office building, the lobby of which now burned brightly. Leon and Ami were prepared for an immediate exit, weapons drawn, but before they could make a move, their attention was caught by the sound of shattering glass from above.

Looking up simultaneously, they saw a top floor window explode outward with a tiny figure in the middle of it all. As they watched, that figure plummeted toward them and, with a jarring impact smashed face first into the unmarked's windshield. Blood sprayed in all directions, and ran freely down the car's hood from the torn and broken female figure lying sprawled there.

"Holy shit!" Leon exclaimed. "What the hell?"

And then the broken figure on the windshield opened her eyes and, seeing Leon, tried to speak. "Drive" she whispered. "For God's sake, Leon, drive!"

Looking up, Takashi saw two figures, humanoid in outline and form but far too shiny, poke their heads and then their bodies from the shattered window above.

"Oh, shit, Leon! Do it! Drive! We got friggin' company up there, and it ain't friendly!"

Looking up as he slammed the unmarked into reverse, Leon said, "Ah, hell. It figures. We go looking for trouble, and trouble damn well finds us first!"

Above them, between the two metallic figures, a small black shape suddenly shot out, banking and juking as it flew to avoid the fire directed toward it. Popping concealed flight jets from calves and shoulders, Samael and Lilith leapt from the window in pursuit, both of the fleeing automobile and of the crow.

For it's part, the crow continued to dodge and pinwheel, finally darting into the speeding auto through Takashi's open window and ducking into the back seat. "Jesus!" She exclaimed as it fluttered past her face and then, leaning far out the window, drew the Webley from it's holster.

The two boomers, some advanced, humaniform type that Takashi'd never seen before, dropped down and skimmed behind them, gaining rapidly. Ami activated the laser sighting in her cyber eye and, with a mental command kicked in her only other pieces of cyberware, a set of artificial glands that rode atop the adrenal cortices of her kidneys. She felt an immediate rush, and the world seemed to slow down just a bit around her as her reflexes accelerated. Bringing the targeting reticule into alignment with the hard-sight of her weapon, she sighted in on the nearest of the two, the female model, and fired.

Contrary to popular belief and popular movies, it was by no means easy to hit a moving target, especially when you were moving yourself. But, like Leon, Ami had had experience with such things over the years, and scored a torso hit with one of the huge armor piercing rounds. To no effect whatsoever.

Ami's eyes widened in disbelief. She knew that the rounds she was packing were capable of at least nicking the hide of even a battle-rated boomer, and the fact that they hadn't even scratched this one didn't bode well. Not at all. To Leon she yelled, "This isn't good, McNichol! My Webley's not cutting it! I'm gonna have to go through the back seat and try for the shit in the trunk! But you're gonna have to keep them off our ass until I can get a hold of it!"

Leon grunted and said, "Well, shit! Hurry up then, Ami! I can't dodge a whole hell of a lot in this thing, especially not with her hitching a ride on the damn windshield!"

As if hearing him, Nene stirred, mostly healed now, and forced herself up to a kneeling position on the hood, much to Leon's disbelief. Gripping the door frame on Ami's side, she reached into her long coat with her other hand and drew out the hand-canon. Tucking it under her arm, she reached back inside and came out with one of the large pistol grenades that had dealt so effectively with Moe. Releasing her hold momentarily, she snapped it to the modified muzzle and, grabbing hold again, quickly sighted over the roof and fired. The miniature RPG whooshed away and caught the pursuing cyberdroid squarely in the chest.

There was a titanic explosion, and Nene saw the shining female figure thrown back by the blast. Off balance, her foot made contact with the pavement, and she was immediately yanked forward into an uncontrolled tumble, rapidly dwindling behind. Still, Nene was almost certain that she hadn't really been damaged much, just shaken up. But at least it didn't seem that she'd be picking up the pursuit right away.

"Jesus Christ!" Leon exclaimed from the driver's seat as he watched in the rear-view mirror. Trying like hell not to keep the car on a straight enough course to make a good target while at the same time pushing for all the speed he could get out of it, he glanced at the mirror again. He saw the female roll to a stop and slowly climb to her knees far behind, but he also saw the male rocket on past, mouth gaping, an all too familiar glow building there. "Oh, shit," he said, knowing what was coming.

The mouth-laser blast missed it's intended target, the back of Leon's head, only because he jerked the wheel sharply to the right at the last second, nearly flinging Nene from her precarious perch. The blast instead passed between the driver's and passenger's seats, and though over ninety-nine percent of the laser's energy passed through the glass unhindered, the less than one percent absorbed was more than enough to cause catastrophic thermal expansion. Both the rear window and the windshield shattered explosively, raining glass all over Leon and Ami in the back seat. The crow squawked in indignation from where it was huddled on the floorboard, and Ami, head and torso shoved into the trunk, gave a muffled yell. "Son of a bitch, Leon!"

"Bitch at the damn boomer, Takashi, not me!" Leon yelled over his shoulder, trying to figure some way to squeeze just a little more out of the unmarked. On the hood, Nene was clutching her right thigh, which had been seared by the boomer's shot. As Leon watched curiously, he saw the blackened, smoking third degree burn lighten and heal over like a time-lapse movie. "Je-sus Christ," he whispered, shaking his head slowly. He knew that most combat-rated models were capable of healing that rapid, but he'd never heard of an android that could do anything like that. 'Somehow, we're gonna get through this shit,' Leon thought, and then, 'Just so I can find out what the hell's really going on here.'

From the back, Ami's muffled voice came to him again. "Pop the damn trunk, Leon!"

Frowning, Leon said, "Say what?"

Irritated, Takashi yelled, louder, "I said open the damn trunk McNichol! Now!"

Leon rolled his eyes and, as he hit the trunk release muttered, "Oh hell, here we go."

The trunk lid popped up just slightly as the latch released, held down by the pressure of the wind passing over it. From inside, a large bore muzzle suddenly poked it's way out, resting solidly on the trunk's edge. From behind it, there was the actinic glow of a low powered active laser sighting device, visible only because of the darkness around it. With a muttered, "Eat this, asshole," Ami fired the Stomach rail gun, sighting directly at the male boomer's gaping mouth and the oral cavity laser lens there.

The boomer tried to dodge, but too late. The hypersonic round struck it dead-on in the mouth, shattering the comparatively delicate lens and causing a fair amount of collateral damage as well. With a reverberating roar of pain, the boomer fell back, hands clasped to it's face as it touched down. Not one to leave things to chance, Ami fired another round, and then the third and last. She scored two more hits, one to the torso and one to the right thigh. The boomer staggered back with both impacts, but didn't fall. Ami whistled in consternation, and, reloading as quickly as possible, muttered, "Son of a bitch, these things are tough!"

By the time Ami had jammed three more rounds into the Stomach, both boomers were dwindling out of sight behind, and, curiously, didn't seem inclined to follow further. Seeing this, Ami squirmed backwards, the Stomach still in her hands, and popped out into the back seat, throwing it up onto the window ledge. Over her shoulder she said, "Well, looks like we're clear for now, McNichol. Where the hell are we going?"

Before Leon could answer, Nene flopped inside through the shattered windshield and, landing in the passenger seat said in a tone of exhaustion, "Raven's. We need to go back to Raven's Garage. It's the only place that has what I'm going to need."

Frowning, and glancing suspiciously at her, Leon said, "Is that so. Two questions, then. First, what the hell was all that shit just about? And second, who or what the hell are you really?"

Irritated and still in some pain, Nene looked over at Leon and said, "Well who the hell do I look like, Leon? The tooth fairy?"

Leon's frown deepened, and in a dangerous voice he said, "That's not what I asked. I know who you look like, but that doesn't mean much nowadays, does it?" Hand darting into his jacket, he whipped out his Earth Shaker and, aiming directly between Nene's eyes, cocked the hammer back. "Last time," he said slowly. "Who are you?"

Nene sighed and slumped back into the seat, tears suddenly stinging her eyes. Looking back at Leon miserably, in a tight voice she said, "Believe whatever you want to, Leon. Hell, it's probably better if you don't believe any of this crap. It'll make things easier later. If there is a later."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" Leon said bemusedly.

"What I mean," Nene said tiredly, "is that The Tin Man isn't who I thought he was. Or what."

From the back seat, Ami piped up with a surprised, "Say what?"

Nene shook her head and said, "He's not who he used to be. He's, well, merged with somebody else. Somebody who's rebuilt his whole body and mind. He's a monster now. More so than he was before."

"Ok," Leon said slowly, "I'm really getting sick of saying this, so spill it all at once. What the hell are you talking about?"

"Largo, Leon!" She yelled, angry tears flowing now. "Largo! That's what I'm talking about! He didn't die that day when you shot him and knocked him off the tower! His body was destroyed, but his mind wasn't! He made it into the Net somehow, and then he came back! He's the one who set us up, who had us killed! And it's as much my fault as it is his."

Truly perplexed now, Leon said, "Ok, let me get this straight. So you're saying that The Tin Man is really Largo, or some kind of mix of Largo and Fukabayashi, that he set up the Sabers' murder, and that you, or Nene at least, had something to do with it? Jesus Christ. This is giving me a damn headache."

"Headache or no, Leon, it's true," Nene said. And in a small voice, sniffling now, she said, "You remember all those little fights we had with Miriam's boomers right before he took over the station?"

Leon nodded, and said, "Yeah. And?"

"And you remember how the chief's niece, Lisa, was following us around, taking pictures and trying to expose our identities?"

"Yeah," Leon said with a curious note in his voice.

Nene nodded, and said, "Well, she got one good one. One of those boomers broke my visor, and Lisa got a shot of my face. Not a great shot, but enough to get her really wound up. That's why she was acting so weird there at the end, asking everybody all kinds of funny questions."

Leon nodded slowly, looking at Nene oddly.

"Well, when she downloaded that photo from her camera, I guess Largo, or some part of him, saw it. Her computer was hooked up to the Net, and that was all it took."

"So how does that add up to it being your fault he killed the Sabers?" Leon asked in puzzlement.

"Don't you see?" Nene said, tears flowing freely now. "If I'd been more careful, or if I'd just bothered to keep myself in better damn shape, Lisa would've never gotten that picture! And Largo said that even though he had two of our identities already, he wouldn't have moved without a third." Looking down at the floor, still sniffling, Nene said in a broken tone, "So you see? It was my fault. If it wasn't for me, they might still be alive."

Frowning again, Leon said, "Ok, reality check here. First, if this guy is Largo, why the hell are you believing a damn thing he says? From what little I remember about him, he seemed like the kind of guy who'd tell you whatever he thought would hurt the most. And second, what makes you think that even if he hadn't moved when he did, that he wouldn't have eventually? If he's as high and mighty as you say, it would've only been a matter of time now wouldn't it?"

Still sniffling, Nene drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them, hugging herself. Finally, in a small voice, she said, "I guess so. Maybe."

Leon nodded emphatically, and said, "Well, there you have it. He psyched you out, and you fell for it. End of story, Nene."

"Nene?" Ami said in a strange voice from behind. "I thought you said you'd never believe that one, McNichol."

Leon was silent for a long moment, eyes unreadable behind his mirrored shades, and then finally he said, "Son of a bitch. It is you, isn't it, Nene?"

With a wan smile, she looked back at Leon and said, "Yeah, it's me. Don't ask me how, though. I already went through that one with Mackie, and I haven't got a clue."

Again Leon was silent for several seconds, and then he said, "Ok, then. So what now?"

Nene sighed, and said, "Like I said before, we need to go back to Raven's. Mackie should have It ready by now, and I only pray that'll be enough for me to be able to take him on."

Incredulous, Ami said, "Take him on? You plan on going back there after getting your ass handed to you like that?"

"It's not like I have much choice," Nene said quietly. "For a couple of reasons. First, he's the last one. The last bastard who owes me and the others. He's the only reason I'm here, now. Second, whatever he did to us, he has to be stopped. What he's planning is crazy."

"Planning?" Leon said. "Shit, this just gets better and better. What's the bastard got in mind?"

Nene just shook her head, and said, "Imagine the worst thing you can possibly think of. Now make it ten times worse."

As she said this, the crow emerged from it's hiding place and fluttered to her shoulder, squawking it's agreement loudly.

Back at Raven's, down in the concrete corridors beneath, Nene finished retelling to all assembled what Largo had told her. All were silent for a moment, absorbing the fantastic story, and then Leon said, "So the son of a bitch plans to just absorb the whole damn planet? Is that what you're saying?"

Nene shook her head, and said, "I don't really know, Leon. He kept talking in metaphors and stuff like that. But that's what it sounded like. First he plans to take over the whole Net, and then everything else. And if he can do what he did to The Tin Man, just taking him over from the inside and remaking him like that, I don't see why he can't do the same thing on a bigger scale. It might take a while, but I got the impression that he's not really worried about time anymore."

Ami shook her head, and said, "Hell, who knows. There are boomers out there that are able to fuse with a hell of a lot of material. But to do what he did to Fukabayashi! That'd mean he'd have to be able to rework flesh too. There wasn't really very much of that left in him, but there was some."

Mackie whistled softly, and said, "Organic fusion. That's bad. Real bad. It's been the holy grail and the ultimate taboo in cyberdroid research for a lot of years now. I'd heard there were a few people working on it, but the only one who was even close was a guy named Hawthorne back in the States. He worked with my dad years ago, and knows more about boomers than just about anybody except maybe Dr. Haynes. He worked with Dad too."

After a slight pause, Mackie continued. "Anyway, from what I heard, something went really wrong with Dr. Hawthorne's experiments, and they had to shut the whole thing down. I don't know if what Largo did is based on that, or if he came up with it on his own somehow, but either way it's not good. If he can do that kind of thing, it wouldn't be impossible for him to do something really wild. Like eventually fusing Earth's entire biomass and all the man made stuff together into one big, planet-sized blob of cyber-goo. Sounds like that's what he's after."

Leon shook his head disbelievingly and said, "Well, Nene, you hit the nail on the head before. Crazy is the only way to describe shit like that. So how the hell do we stop him?"

Nene sighed, and said, "We don't. I do."

"Christ's sake, Nene!" Leon exclaimed. "I hate to point this out, but the last time you tried that, he sent you on a ten story swan dive into my friggin' windshield! You plan on going back for seconds?"

"That only happened because I didn't know what I was dealing with," Nene said matter-of-factly. "If I had, I never would have gone there unprepared."

Leon snorted, and said, "Unprepared? How the hell do you prepare for a bastard like that? Hit the place with a damn particle beam strike?"

"I wish," Nene said. And then, leading the way into Mackie's main workshop, she said, "But in lieu of that, this will just have to do."

In front of them, standing upright in a transparent storage canister, was a hardsuit. But it was a hardsuit unlike any they'd seen before. It was jet black from head to toe, and had a slight textural burnishing that almost suggested feathers. The helmet was slightly oblong in shape, and tapered a bit in front, hinting at the outline of a bird's head and pointed beak. Behind, it sported a set of oversized flight verniers, folded now into backpack configuration. Just visible between them was a tightly folded membrane of some sort that, if extended out, might very well have given the impression of a set of great, raven-black wings.

"Damn." Leon said appreciatively. "That's one mean-looking piece of hardware."

"And armed to the teeth too, looks like," Takashi added.

Nene nodded slowly, and said, "You can't see the ribbon-cutters or 'Kotetu', the other laser-edged sword right now. They're retracted. But the knuckle bombers, the laser canon, the leg bombers, the s-mine rack and the knuckle-guard system are all pretty plain to see. And of course all my old computer gear, plus a few extras, is still built in."

Leon gave a low whistle, and said, "Christ! It's a damn Swiss-Army suit. If you could cram all that shit into one suit, why didn't you ever do it before?"

Mackie shook his head, and said, "This thing is a nightmare. It's a power-hog for starts. I doubt the damn fuel cells will keep it running for more than a couple of hours, especially with the way I upgraded the musculature. And it's soft-skinned as hell. If I hadn't cut the armor way down, it'd maneuver like a pregnant yak, and, for Nene at least, being able to move is a lot more important than being able to soak a hit. Overall, it's a shitty design for anything other than the one thing it was intended for."

"It's a suicide suit," Ami said flatly. "It's only designed for one big fight, and it doesn't leave much provision for the wearer walking away afterwards. It's strictly a 'go out in a blaze of glory' weapon. That about it?"

Nene nodded, and said, "Yeah, that's about it. When we started working on it last night, I knew we wouldn't have enough time for anything better. Plus, I figured that if I ended up needing this, I wouldn't be worried about much else afterwards. I guess I was right."

"Still," Leon said slowly, "That's a lot of firepower. You sure you know how to operate all that shit, Nene? You were the support Saber, after all, not one of the front-line hitters."

Nene grunted softly, and said, "I'm sure, Leon. It's as if everything I ever saw or learned about fighting just came together in a rush inside of me after I came back. I don't think there's a weapon I can't use now. And… it's funny, but when I look at that suit, all pieced together from parts of the other Saber's suits, I almost feel…"

"Feel what, Nene?" Mackie said, concerned.

"I almost feel that there's some part of them in each part of that suit," she said in a small, strange voice. "As if they're still here with me in a way, waiting to guide me when the time comes."

All three of the others felt a momentary chill run down their spines at these words, though none of them would have admitted it.

Breaking the strangeness, Leon said, "Well, that's great for you. So what about the rest of us?"

Nene frowned, and said, "The rest of you? Leon, the rest of you need to stay out of this. This is my fight, not yours."

"Ah, bullshit." Leon said dismissively. "Largo might be your fight, but those two buffed-out boomers of his are another story. You need somebody to keep them the hell off you while you deal with him at the very least. And I don't plan on becoming part of some planet-sized ball of cyber-shit without a fight."

Ami shook her head and said, "Me either. And we've come this far. We might as well go the rest of the way."

Nene shook her head, and, smiling resignedly, said, "You're both certifiable. You know that?"

In a low voice, Mackie said, "Well , I guess you can include me in that too, then. There's no way I'll stay here while you're going out there to fight him."

Nene sighed, and said, "You know, when this all started, I thought I'd just be going it on my own."

Mackie laughed, and said, "Like I told you before, Nene. What else are friends for?"